Readers sound off on horse carriages, Nike and farebeaters

Keep the horses and jobs trotting

Chattahoochee Hills, Ga.: Every business owner in New York City, regardless of how they personally feel about horses, should be vehemently protesting the de Blasio administration’s blatant end run around the failed legislation to ban the horse carriage industry.

A decade of attempts by NYCLASS to label it “animal abuse” has failed to provide the slightest credible evidence to dispute the findings of multiple veterinarians and equine experts who have repeatedly stated the obvious, that the horse carriages operate in full view of the public, under the most stringent rules and regulations governing their care of any equine discipline in America, they are glossy, well fed, and contented, and are a beloved and iconic feature of NYC.

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The proposed regulations would have only a negative effect, moving horses to locations where they don’t have ready access to their water troughs, standing on a slope for long periods of time, and in areas with no shade until late afternoon. But the single most detrimental effect of these regulations will be to move them away from public visibility, thereby decreasing their owners ability to provide, financially, the same level of exemplary care they now receive. Which, obviously, is the point.

This is a payoff for campaign donations de Blasio received from NYCLASS and will cripple the industry, after efforts to ban it outright failed in the Council. Victorena Minchew

Real patriots

Manhattan: I applaud Nike and their stance. Standing for the national anthem is a custom; it has nothing to do with patriotism. Patriotism is doing something for your country like serving in the armed forces, helping fellow citizens or trying to right some wrongs. If you think you are a patriot because you stand for the anthem, you are wrong. Colin Kaepernick has repeatedly stated that by kneeling he is not trying to disrespect servicemen or first responders. He is attempting to bring attention to the number of African Americans who have been shot and disrespected by the police. Peter Goodridge

Sole-ly trash

Port Jefferson, L.I.: It was extremely mind-blowing to find out such a successful brand as Nike had to go so low as to hire Colin Kaeperick to represent it. It’s all about the money. I just bought an expensive pair of Nike sneakers, but hearing this decision, I had to throw them in the garbage. Nike now has turned their company into trash. Grace Fornatora

Humor down below

Brooklyn: Heard yesterday on the subway: “Attention passengers. This C train is now running as an A train on the F line. Passengers should change next stop to an M or 5 train running on the Z line or a 7 minus 2 train makes a 5 train.” And this: “Attention passengers. Trains are now hopelessly lost and confused and will become uptown trains without delay. Consequently all services are now running as F trains and so the system is now a total F up. You’re welcome.” Paul Cockram

Barack’s border babies

Brooklyn: Voicer Robert Kralick says: “Obama detained twice as many children separated from their parents as Trump. Where was the outcry then?” But Obama wasn’t the one who caused the separation! Obama detained unaccompanied minors — teenagers who came to the U.S. without their parents. They were already separated when they got here. Obama simply detained them temporarily while trying to locate family members or sponsors to release them to. In contrast, Trump targeted parents who came here with their young children, snatching babies and toddlers away. Trudi Rosenblum

Munici-pal parking

Brooklyn: To my fellow frustrated drivers: If you get a summons for an expired Muni Meter, just offer someone $5 for their receipt and submit it as your own. I’ve done this several times, no one has ever accepted the cash, they just say good for you. Take that, de Bozo criminal, we have a loophole — something you know all about. Rocco Conte

Staying abreast of parades

Manhattan: To everyone who disparaged last month’s Topless Parade, I quote Lenny Bruce: “If God made the body, and the body is dirty, then the fault lies with the manufacturer.” James H. Baldwin

Unfair beaters

Brooklyn: Just to elaborate on what Voicer Dennis Clancy said about people not paying their bus fares: The problem isn’t only on Staten Island, it’s with all the boroughs. Not only do they beat the fare, some of them have the audacity to go back to the driver and ask for a transfer! The subways are worse, because even if there are police officers on the station, they don’t do anything to farebeaters. As a station agent, I’ve seen farebeaters step over the turnstiles, crawl under, cock the wheel, double up and slide through the gate when someone opens it, while uniformed officers just watched. Even tourists are doing it now. I’ve witnessed 40 people beat the fare within the first hour of my tour recently. By the end of that day, it was a grand total of 114 people. If we don’t stop them, why should anyone pay? Jacqueline Brown

Coming a cropper

St. Catharines, Ont.: Voicer Jim Hughes has it wrong: Glyphosate — commonly known as RoundUp — is not a pesticide. It is an herbicide. If farmers grow crops that have been engineered to be “RoundUp Ready,” they can spray their entire field with it, killing only the weeds which aren’t resistant while not affecting the crops. Jim, if you’re going to complain about other people’s “bizarro” world views and “absurd facts,” you should probably be armed with truth. PerrySchlanger

Hannibal upending

Norfolk, Va.: It’s disingenuous for Voicer Will Coggin of the Center for Consumer Freedom to disparage PETA’s work to help animals in our local community, considering that he represents a front group for Outback Steakhouse, KFC, Philip Morris, and other enterprises that subject billions of animals to miserable lives and violent, painful deaths every year. PETA is proud to be a “shelter of last resort” for animals who need euthanasia to end their suffering, especially those whose guardians can’t afford this service at a veterinary clinic. We welcome all animals without fees or waiting lists. We’ve helped thousands of families keep their animals instead of giving them up, by providing free veterinary care, food, and other services, and we’ve found wonderful, loving homes for many animals ourselves. Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA

Not-so-great Brennan

Eastchester, N.Y.: To dopey Voicer Claude Young, who wants President Trump to go to Russia because he got rid of the security clearance of a “great” man, former C.I.A. Director John Brennan: Brennan is the one who voted Communist in a Presidential election. Trump never did. Ralph Valente

Rudy truth-ometer

Scranton, Pa.: When Trump toady Rudy Giuliani said “The truth is not the truth,” was he telling the truth? Vin Morabito